Page 22 of Black Wave

I shake my head, not even trying to pretend that I will do this. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Taylor. I just can’t let her go.

“I thought you might say that. But you see, you don’t have a choice.”

She leaves me there dumbfounded as she walks away, never to return to the house in Mexico again because I was dangerous. All because she thought I could get her killed.

The irony isn’t lost on me that everything her mother tried to keep her away from was the one thing that could have savedher. I don’t know what happened to get them killed, but it is clear that foul play was involved. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the fire chief was paid off to falsify the report.

“Eduardo?” I hear Ram breaking through my thoughts as I try to make sense of this devastating news. “Are you still there? You are too quiet.”

“Yeah, I’m still here. I’m just trying to wrap my head around the sequence of events. It seems fishy, but I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t talked to Emma in years, and now, how do I find her?”

I hear Ram let out a sigh on the other line. “We have to wait it out, brother. We wait and see what we can discover or hear from the families. If her uncle is protecting her, we will know sooner or later. That is, if they want us to know at all.”

“Yeah, you're right.” I agree with Ram because having him think I won’t be a problem is best. I only want to find her and make sure she is okay.

“Besides,” he continues, “you haven’t even seen her in forever. You don’t even know what she looks like anymore. How she is.”

The truth is almost on the tip of my tongue, trying to break free and announce that I stalked her. Well, I stalked her socials and even saw her once through the window of a coffee shop. Emma had just started working there. She turned into such a beautiful woman. What had me smitten was her infectious laugh. She threw her head back and laughed animatedly with her hands, throwing them left and right to accentuate her point when telling a story or rehashing an event. So full of energy, so alive. “Thank god she is alive,” I whisper.

“Eduardo? Are you still there?”

His words snap me out of my memories. “True, Ram.” I clear my throat, wanting to end this conversation already. “Will you keep me posted on anything you hear?”

“Of course. Be safe, Eduardo.” With that, he hangs up, and I do the same.

I am standing there unblinking at the oddity of the situation. I place my hand on my desk and lean over. My breathing picks up as the anger starts to seep over. I see a wet spot on some papers, probably from where Cherry came on my desk as I fucked her from behind. Because I couldn’t look her in the eyes. Eyes that reminded me too much of the emerald-green ones I stared at once long ago and couldn’t get enough of.

Anger rushes through me, and I hurl all the items off my desk. They fall and crash on the floor in a thunderous clatter. Any items initially missed from that first pass, I sweep off my desk until it is free of anything, and my mind remains full of everything that is Emma.

CHAPTER 12

Emma

PRESENT DAY

After a few more minutes, my best friend Liv will be here to relieve me from this shift. I am looking forward to hanging out with the girls tonight. It’s too bad that Liv has to work the night shift and won’t be going out with us. We are all giving one last hurrah to spring break on Padre Island.

Liv and I graduated nursing school together and have been inseparable ever since. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here, and she immediately brought me into her circle of besties. Immediately, they treated me like I was part of their gang of friends. I gathered that they all knew each other from grade school or at least high school and were a close-knit group.

Liv and I attended a recruitment event hosted by the hospital and decided to accept the positions immediately. We took a sign-on bonus after graduating, which helped since we had not been working while we were in school full-time. I took the offered day shift, and Liv took the much despised night shift. She is going to school to finish her baccalaureate degree in nursing and is already accepted into a nurse practitioner program, pending graduation in a couple of months. I am beyond proud of that girl. I’d be even prouder if she got her ass in here and relieved me from this god-awful shift.

I would like nothing more than to take a scorching-hot shower and scrape this pestilence off my body. I still smell that poor man’s rotting toes in my nose. The stench was overwhelming, and I tried not to let him know that I wanted to gag right then and there. I shiver at the thought.

Dr. Hall, the never-ending flirt, throws his arm around my shoulders and pulls me toward the clock, pointing at it jokingly. I know he mostly means nothing by the action, and I have told him repeatedly that I was not interested in dating him. Dating a coworker or someone in a higher position of power is always a recipe for disaster. They hold all the authority over you, and I never want to be in that situation again.

I frown, and Dr. Hall seems to notice. “Are you okay, Emma? You seemed upset just a second ago.”

I immediately school my features, and my mask falls back into place. I smile radiantly at Dr. Hall while simultaneously scooting out from his claustrophobia-inducing side shoulder hug.

“Of course I am. Do you see the clock?” Now that I am free from his restrictive hold, I point animatedly at it, waving my hands. “I am almost out of here, Ethan.”

He smiles at my use of his first name when answering him. I knew he would like that, and it was a good distraction from asking pointed questions about my previous mood.

“If you’ll excuse me, sir, I must finish some last-minute things before my shift relief person arrives.” I see him eye me hungrily at my use of the word sir before nodding and walking away. I laugh to myself. Men are so predictable sometimes.

Walking to the medication dispenser, I see a tall girl nod at me. She heads my way with her long, wavy hair bouncing along her shoulders and honey-brown eyes holding back laughter.

“There you are, girl. I am here to relieve you. I witnessed that encounter with you and Dr. Hall, by the way.” She bounces backand forth on her toes in a playful manner, much like the cat that caught the canary.

---